University of Denver
School of Art & Art History
Electronic Media Arts & Design
Rafael A. Fajardo
Winter 2005
Rafael Fajardo [version 1.5 list]
Miguel Angel Tarango [comments and additions]
Kelly Monico [comments and additions]
Jennifer Kiesel [comments and additions]
Matthew Benjamin Jenkins [comments and additions]
The
Computer Game Quiz, I got most of them, but I must confess, I never had a
Commodore 64 so I missed out on some of these titles.
http://quiz.sesblog.hu/quiz/index.pl
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Buzzcut
article on Simulacra and Gaming. The most relevant reference I can make is the
film eXistenZ. There is something the way Cronenberg handles the
distortion of reality by humans that makes sense here. Reality and simulations
are mental constructs defined by humans to access their world be it natural or
virtual, or is there a difference?
http://www.buzzcut.com/article.php?story=20050215202013246
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Article
on GTA (Grand Theft Auto) and how its content is already subversive. Developers
not plan to release an online multiplayer game based in this gaming universe
called All Points Bulletin where players can take the form of either "good
guy" or "bad guy." The bigger question is if these labels still
apply after GTA bent the rules of the hero and make the gamer take on the role
of the anti-hero. The protagonist of GTA and its sequels are not white-hat
cowboy types. They are more like Ringo, in that the character survived and was
not at all above bending the law to suit her needs.
http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/7660/GTA-Creator-Unveils-All-
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When
the virtual and the real collide, code is for sale at eBay! Some might say
"Get a life," but for many people, this is life. How different is
this virtual life different then say the virtual life humans construct for
themselves as they attempt to cope with the natural/virtual world (see eXistenZ).
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6870901/
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The
50 most important games! They may not all be the greatest titles, but they are
important for their contributions to technology or new ways of playing.
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3116290
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Arcade
: A Blinkenlights Installation. I just love the fact that people can play
Tetris on a building. Talk about constructing reality, I think I'm sensing a
theme here...
http://www.blinkenlights.de/arcade/games.en.html
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African
American Gamers page!
www.aagamer.com
Video
games have entered the gansta-rap era. Again, "playing" games as a
means to a virtual life, a second life of pure fantasy where the user can live
out fantastic dreams of carnage and hedonism with little to no social ill will.
BUT, the notion of reality, again, rears its ugly little head as is stated :
"When's the last
time you bought a game that wasn't based on some variation of somebody else's
reality? OR : If we're going to do reality, we might as well do reality all the
way" Again,
there is a conflict of interest, and by that, I mean in thinking about games as
their own construction beyond just as second rate scripts that would not make
good legitimate films. Games as games. They don't have to have specific physics
to be good, I remember Joust being one of my favs and as far as I can tell,
ostriches don't fly. Although there is an interesting comment about GTA just
being a 3D version of Pac-Man when the user is driving a little yellow car and
the blue ghosts are policemen!
http://www.aagamer.com/article.php?sid=99
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The
making of Half-Life 2. The sequel to what is generally considered one of the if
not The Greatest computer game of all time. Myst fans will no doubt scream
foul, but the way Half-Life integrates narrative elements, interface, puzzles,
and action without taking the player out of the game environment as well as
telling a decent sci-fi conspiracy are all highly commendable.
Hodgson,
David. Half-Life 2: Raising
the Bar.
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A
database of game designers and industry insiders. This text covers what it
takes to make a game in a practical sort of way. This is not a treatise on
gameness but on gaming and what it takes to make a game "fun."
Saltzman,
Marc, ed. Game Design:
Secrets of the Sages, second edition.
Macmillan,
Indianapolis, 2000.
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Interviews
with artists, programmers, and various gamers, this text attempts to define
what is about video games that is so important to this generation. The book
explores the emotional resonance and sense of being involved with games. From
going to arcades, to home consoles, to access to early military computer
equipment, these writers contextualize the importance of playing video games
and how that playing has influenced what it is that they do now.
Compton,
Shanna, ed. Gamers: Writers,
Artists and Programmers on the Pleasures of Pixels. Soft Skull Press, Brooklyn, 2004.
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This
text explores new linear media and how gaming is building on the emotive
qualities of the cinema. Hanson claims that New Media Interactions explore beyond
the square pixel or canvas of the picture tube to make compelling narrative
experiences. These experiences are funneled through avatars that much like
cinematic heroes, are the conduit through which the gamer experiences the
gaming world and is able to experience a range of emotions. When the viewer is
sucked into the world of the protagonist and is immersed in this virtual
environment, the player or spectator is immersed in the computer
"flow." This happens either through immersive worlds that are open
and allow the player to explore (Tomb
Raider) or through a more
structured narrative where the player makes key decisions and choices based on
the given narrative (Metal
Gear Solid). It seems there is a
key difference between those games designed in the United States and then
everywhere else (to borrow a line from Eddie Izzard).
Hanson,
Matt. The End of Cellloid:
Film Futures in the Digital Age.
Rotovision, Switzerland, 2004.
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The
film eXistenZ is about layers of reality and the simulations of
that reality. Daily, people make decisions and play out their lives as if they
were playing simulations. Citizens get locked in ritualized social contracts
and become embedded in these social "loops." In this endless
repetition, a person can get mired in the endless simulation of life or the
facade of life so that reality becomes unnecessary; an idealization formulated
by hegemonic centers of social control. And the best part, Jennifer Jason Leigh
is The Architect!
eXistenZ. Dir. by David Cronenberg. Dimension Films, 1999.
This is version 1.5 of this document copyrighted under a creative commons, non-commercial, share-alike, license, December 2004.